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ECOWAS calls for UN-backed intervention to reclaim north

The West African consortium ECOWAS has called on Mali to request a UN-backed intervention to try to win back the country's north, which has been taken over by forces loyal to Al Qaeda. ECOWAS has also called for a unity government by July 31.

AP - The body representing nations in western Africa is calling on Mali to request a U.N.-backed military intervention in order to try to win back the country’s north, which has been overrun by a radical Islamic group linked to al-Qaida.

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, met on Saturday to try to find a solution to the growing crisis in Mali, and the presidents of six West African nations including Burkina, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger, Togo and Benin were present.

They also are calling on Mali to create a government of national unity by July 31, the next step in bringing the nation back to constitutional rule following a March coup.
That coup created the chaos that allowed the Islamist rebel faction to seize the north.